Radio relaying



3 Sheets-Sheet l l INVENTOR.

N. J. OMAN RADIO RELAYING March 7, 1950 Filed Feb. 14, 1945 ATTORNEV N. Jl OMAN RADIO RELAYING March 7, 195o Filed Feb. 14, 1945 .3 Sheets-Sheet -2 N. J. OMAN RADIO RELAYING March 7, 1950 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Feb. 14, 1945 Patented Mar. 7, 1950 essere@ UNITED STATESy PATENT OFFICE RADIO RELAYING fNils J. Oman, Merchantville, N. J., assignor -to Radio `Corporation'of America, a corporation of Delaware Application YFebruary 14, 1945, Serial No. 577,905

(Cl. y,Z50-15) repeating -or lbroadcasting ypoint without requiring synchronizing equipment.

In one form of the present invention the carrier frequency generating and modulating equipment of a broadcast FM transmitter, for exam ple, is located 'near the studio in which the 4program, to be simultaneously `broadcast and relayed, originates. Part of the generated frequency modulated waves are locally broadcast. Another portion 4of the modulated waves is divided down "in frequency and utilized to frequerrcy modulate the output of an -ultra short wave radio relay `link transmitter. The output of this link transmitter may be directively radiated to a distant point for further directive relaying or transmission, or for r'ebroadcasting. At a rebroadcasting Apoint the received ultra short waves are demodulated so 4as to reproduce the frequency divided, 'frequency modulated waves and the latter are suitably altered as to `deviation and frequency so as to be suitable for rebroadcasting purposes.

Other objects, advantages and features of the present invention will be self-evidentes themore detailed vdescription thereof proceeds.

In the yaccompanying drawings- Fig. l is a schematic block diagram of instrumentalities wherein a single program may belocally broadcast and simultaneously relayed toa distant repeating point or, if desired, distant rebroadcasting point. In Vconnection with Fig. 1, frequency dividers are employed for deriving `a wave from 'the local broadcast 'transmitter which may be used to frequencymodulate van ultra short wave suitable 'for directive Yrelaying to some distant point land also, 'if desired, to automatically frequency control the oscillator 4-o'f the local broadcast transmitter.

Fig. 2 is ablo'ck diagram of an ultra Shortwave receiving 'station for receiving the ultra short wave directively transmitted by vthe relaying apparatus of Fig. 1 and `for Aconverting the received Wave into a form vsuitable :for rebroadcasting purposes.

Figs. 3 and 4 are partial 'block diagrams illustratng modied forms of certain 'apparatus which may be used in connection -with the relaying system of Fig. l2.y

Fig. 5 illustrates schematically in block dia gram form, an ultra short wave relaying station of which vone or more may beinterposed between the local system Vsuch as shown in Fig. 1 and a terminal rebroadcasting vstation such as shown in'FigQZ.'

`Reierring to Figure "-1, jthere is illustrated an arrangement wherein Aan audio program may be broadcast locally on the usual FM broadcasting frequencies andsimultaneouslyrelayed to a distant point for further relaying or rebroadcasting. An audio vfrequency program originating in studio 2 is picked up by -one lmore microphones "(not shown) and fed over a `Wire line 4 to an audio amplifier '6. AWire line ll may be a high quality transmission line Icapable of transmitn ting a band of frequencies running from zero to 15 kilocycles without selective l'discrimination or attenuation.

The output of the amplifier lB is fed through connections 8 to a pre-emphasizing network l0. This preemphasizing network should be designed so as to pre-emphasize the higher frequencies of the audio 'band fed to it in accordance with the impedance-frequency characteristics of a series inductan'ce-resistance network having a time constant of 1'00 microseconds. The actual characteristic of such a pre-distorting network is i1- lustrated at page 299 of van article appearing in the Bell System TechnicalvJournal for April 1934 written by Messrs. H. A. Aifel, R. W. Chestnut and R. H. Mills.

The output of the pre-emphasizing network maybe further amplied, if desired, and whether or not amplified is fed through line or connection l.I2 to `a frequency modulated oscillator Id. The output of the frequency modulated oscillator lll `is fed to a frequency doubler I8 feeding its output through Vline 2li -to a further doubler 22. The latter, in turn, feeds its output through a transmission line 24 r`to a frequency tripler 2'6, the output of Vwhich is fed through transmission line 28 to the radiating 'antenna 33. Typical frequencies and frequency deviations appearing in various parts of the transmitter are indicated on the drawing, but, it is to be clearly understood, these values are merely illustrative.

For example, oscillator 14 may be operated at any 'frequency in a range of frequencies such as 2.5 `to 5 'megacycles, in which event the radiated unmodulated carrier .from antenna y30 may lie in the band .from 30 to 601megacycles. Or if desired, frequencies and .multiplying .factors may be chosen so that the modulated carrier radiated over antenna 30 lies in the band of, for example, 84 to 102 megacycles. As indicated, oscillator I4 may be designed to have an unmodulated frequency of 5 megacycles and the audio input fed over line I2 may be adjusted so that the maximum deviation produced by the most intense or loudest audio signals fed to the oscillator is plus and minus 6.25 kilocycles. For the example chosen, the output of doubler I8 will be 10 megacycles with a maximum frequency swing of plus and minus 12.5 kilocycles; the output of doubler 22 will be 20 megacycles plus and minus 25 kilocycles and the output of tripler 25 will be 60 megacycles with a maximum swing of plus and minus 75 kilocycles.

For automatically frequency controlling the frequency modulated oscillator I4 so that the unmodulated radiated carrier radiatedfrom antenna remains on its assigned frequency, a reversible motor 84 is provided. This motor through mechanical linkage 66 operates tuning condenser 6B in such a way as to maintain the unmodulated carrier frequency at the desired value. from modulator 48, it being noted that modulator 48 is supplied with constant frequency waves over lines 54 and 55 displaced 90 degrees in phase by phase shifter 52. The source of the constant frequency waves' so fed into the modulator 48 is a crystal controlled oscillator 50.

The remaining portion of the automatic frequency controllingr system includes dividers 34, 38 and 44, divider 34 having a frequency dividing factor of 5, for example, and being supplied from the output of frequency doubler I8 through line 32. It is preferred that divider 34 be fed from the output of frequency doubler I8 rather than directly from the output of frequency modulated oscillator I4 in order to prevent reaction of the frequency controlling system upon the frequency modulated oscillator.

The output of divider 34 has' a frequency of 2 megacycles with a maximum deviation of plus and minus 2.5 kilocycles and this wave is fed to divider 38 having a frequency dividing factor of 4, for example. The output of frequency divider 38 is fed to divided 44 which may have a frequency dividing factor of 5, as indicated. The output of frequency divider 44 will be a wave of 100 kilocycles having a maximum deviation of plus and minus .125 kilocycles. This wave is fed through line 46 to the modulator 48.

The foregoing automatic frequency controlling system and the modulating system, it will be recognized, is essentially similar to the system described by J. F. Morrison in his U. S. Patent 2,250,104, dated July 22, 1941, with the exception already noted, namely, that the rst frequency divider for the automatic frequency controlling system is connected to the output of doubler I8 rather than directly to the output of the fr equency modulated oscillator I4.

The frequency modulated oscillator I4 may be of the type described in the Morrison patent or, if desired, may be any one of the types described by Murray G. Crosby in an article entitled Reactance tube frequency modulators appearing in the RCA Review for July 1940 at page 89. The various dividers may be of the type described in the Morrison patent or, preferably, of the type described and claimed by G. W. Beers in U. S. Patent 2,356,201. The frequency multipliers I8, 22 and 25 may be of the type described by C. W. Hansell in U. S. Patent 1,878,308.

Motor 54 is operated by beats derived As before indicated the waves radiated from antenna 30 are for local broadcast purposes. In order to transmit the program originating in studio 2 to some distant broadcasting station for broadcast purposes, it has been proposed to send the same to the distant station by way of wire lines. However, in accordance with the present invention the use of expensive wire lines for this purpose is avoided in the following way:

A portion of the output of one of the frequency dividers, such as 38 in Figure 1, is fed through connection 42 to a group of amplifying and limiting tubes '10. The output of the amplifier and limiter 'I0 is fed through connection 'I2 to an ultra high frequency oscillation generator 'I4 for the purpose of frequency modulating the same. Oscillator 14, as indicated, may have an unmodulated frequency of 4000 megacycles. The frequency modulated output of oscillator 'I4 is fed through transmission line 'I6 and directively radiated from a dipole antenna 'I8 and beamed by the action of parabolic reflector 80. The ampli- .tude of the waves fed through line I2 to the ultra high frequency oscillator 'I4 may be adjusted such that the output radiated over antenna I8 may be 4000 megacycles modulated plus and minus one megacycle.

Oscillator 'I4 and the circuits for frequency modulating the same may be similar to the arrangement shown in L. E. Thompson application Serial No. 576,453 led February 6, 1945. More specifically, the amplifiers and limiters 'I0 of Figure 1 may be of the type shown in Figure 8A of the Thompson application; the frequency modulated oscillator I4 may be of the type shown in Figure 6 of the Thompson application, and the radiating system 18, may be of the type shown in Figure l0 of the Thompson application.

If desired, as illustrated in Figure 1, the input vto amplifier "I0 may be derived from a separate frequency divider 42A. The input of the divider 42A may be connected directly to the output of frequency modulated oscillator I4 through transmission line 42B. The output of divider 42A may be connected to the amplifier I0 by throwing switch 42C to its other position 42D. The dividing factor of 42A may be 5 in which case the input to 'I4 over line I2 will be 1000 kai-1.25 kc. ai shown, for maximum frequency modulation of I In Figure 2 the waves received from the ultra short wave relaying antenna 'I8 are received and converted at the distant receiving point to a suitable frequency for rebroadcasting in an assigned broadcast band, for example, from 30 to 60 megacycles. The arrangement, it will be observed, offers distinct advantages since operations take place at high frequencies and it is not necessary at any point in the system to reproduce the original modulating frequency band of from zero to 15 kilocycles. In this way distortion is minimized and high fidelity in rebroadcasting maintained.

More specifically in connection with Figure 2, the waves transmitted from antenna 'I8 of Figure 1 are received upon the dipole parabolic reflector antenna arrangement 82, 84 of Figure 2. The received waves are fed to a converter 88 also fed through line 90 with locally generated oscillations having a frequency of, for example, 4030 megacycles. The oscillator 92 and converter 88 may be of the type described by L. E. Thompson in Figure 7 of his application Serial No. 576,453 led February 6, 1945.

The output of converter A88 is the beat difference between the received and locally' generated waves and, hence, is a wave. of 30 megacycles having a deviation of plus and minus one rnegacycle in accordance with illustrative frequency values chosen. This beat is fed through connection sil to the amplifier and limiter 96 feeding through line 98 a discriminator-detector arrangement Iil. This discriminator-detector arrangement may be of the type described in the abovemientioned Thompson application in Figure 9 at 930, 934, 938, 948, 932 and 950. Or, it may be of the type described in the patent to Mountjoy #2,286,530 or of the type described in Seeley Patent #2,121,103.

The output of the discrm'inator-detector will appear in line |05 and will be a wave having a mean frequency of 590 kilocycles and a maxim mum deviation of plus and minus 0.625 kilocycle corresponding to the output of divider 33 of Figure l. Or if divider 132A of Fig. l is used, the output of itt will be 1 megacycle i-1.25 kilocycles. This wave output of ltt is successively frequency multiplied in frequency multipliers |08, |52, lli? and i2@ having multiplying factors of, respectively, 4, 5, 2 and 3. are connected together by lines l it, i it and la, as indicated, and carry waves having mean frequencies and deviations as indicated on the draw ing. It will be found that the output of tripler l2@ `will be a 6G megacycle wave having a maximum deviation of plus and minus 75 1nilocycles which may be broadcast over an antenna |24 connected to the tripler |22 by way of transmission line |22.

In the arrangement shown in Figure 2, rebroadcasting at the distant broadcasting station of Figure 2 is illustrated to be at the same frequency as the broadcasting frequency employed at the terminal broadcasting station of Figure 1. Obviously the distant broadcasting station of Figure 2 may broadcast at some different carrier frequency if desired. This may be accomplished by choosing appropriate frequency multiplying' factors or by heterodyning the waves to any desired frequency for retransmittal.

One such arrangement is illustrated in Figure 3. The apparatus of Figure 3 is used to replace the apparatus of Figure 2 to the right of line A, A. Thus, in Figure 3 the wave appearing in line |106 having a mid-frequency of 500 kilocycles and a maximum frequency deviation of plus and minus .625 kilocycle is fed to a frequency converter |25 also supplied with oscillations from a local oscillation generator |22 here shown to have a frequency of '750 kilocycles. The output of converter 26 is fed to a lter and amplier |32 which passes one side band, for example, 250 kilocycles plus and minus .625 kilocycle, resulting from the beating of the wave generated at |28 and the wave fed into the converter L26 at |96. The output of the filter and amplifier |32 may be fed through line i3d to a chain of frequency multipliers having a total frequency multiplying factor of, for example, 120. The resulting wave will then have a mid-frequency of 3G megacycles and a total maximum swing of plus and minus 'l5 kilocycles and this wave may be fed through transmission line it to the broadcasting antenna Md. By increasing the frequency of oscillator |28 and by properly adjusting the band pass of filter |32 any modulating carrier frequency lying within the range of to 60 megacycles, for example, may be radiated over antenna llfil.

Figure 4 shows still another arrangement for apparatus which may be substituted to the right The multipliers of line A, A of Figure 2 in order to adjust the: mid-broadcast frequency of.` the, waves radiated:

over the broadcasting antennav Hit` of Figure 4; As shown in Figure 4, waves fed in over line m6' are frequency multiplied by frequency multiplier. i132 having a frequency multiplying factor of 4:0,v for example. The multiplied wave appearing in line |44 is fed to converter |66-, supplied through,

connection Hi8 with constant frequency waves from oscillation generator itil havingv a frequency of 33.3333 megacycles, The output of converter tilt is fed through line |52 and filter Asshown, lter i511 is designed to pass a mid-y frequency of 13.3333 megacycles plus and minusT 25 kilocycles. The waves passed by filter lilil are;

fed through line |56 to a tripler 58 whose out-4 put is a wave of l0 megacycles withv a deviationy A, A is identical to the apparatus tothe left ofline A, A of Figure 2. However, the frequency modulated wave appearing in line |66 having a mean frequency of 50G kilocycles and a deviation of plus and minus .625 kilocycle is fed to a high frequency oscillator such as 5ml which may be adjusted to have an unmodulated frequency of 5060 megacycles. When modulated, the output of ultra high frequency oscillator 520 may be deviated plus and minus 2 megacycles and this frequency modulated wave may be fed through transmission line 592 to the antenna 5M for directive radiation by the action of parabolic reector 506 to a following relaying station identical to the arrangement shown in Figure 5 but suitably adjusted for reception of the wave radiated at 504. Or, the wave radiated at 594 of Figure 5 may be picked up by the antenna arrangement 82, 84 of Figure 2 and acted upon by the remainder of the apparatus of Figure 2 suitably adjusted for the frequency radiated by antenna 5M of Figure 5.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. A system for simultaneously broadcasting and relaying a program comprising means for generating high frequency waves, means for frequency modulating the generated high frequency waves with a signal, means for utilizing a portion of the modulated waves for local broadcasting, means for frequency dividing another portion of the modulated waves, means for utilizing one portion of the divided waves to automatically frequency control said high frequency generator, means for generating ultra short waves, and means for utilizing another portion of said frequency divided waves for frequency modulating the waves generated by said ultra short wave generator.

2. In combination, a generator of high frequency waves, a source of signaling waves, instrumentalities for frequency modulating the waves generated by said high frequency generator, instrumentalities for frequency dividing a portion of the modulated output of said generator, apparatus utilizing said divided waves for automatically frequency controlling said generator, a circuit for utilizing another portion of the frequency modulated output of said generator for local broadcast purposes, a second frequency divider for frequency dividing still another portion of the output of said frequency modulated generator, an ultra high frequency generator, and instrumentalities for utilizing the output of said second divider for frequency modulating the output of said ultra high frequency generator.

3. The method which includes generating a high frequency wave, frequency modulating the generated high frequency wave in accordance with a signal, utilizing a portion of the frequency modulated wave for local broadcast purposes, frequency dividing a portion of the frequency modulated wave, utilizing the frequency divided wave for frequency controlling the mean frequency of the frequency modulated waves, separately frequency dividing another portion of the frequency modulated Waves, generating ultra short Waves, and utilizing the separately divided Waves for frequency modulating the generated ultra short waves.

4. The method of simultaneously broadcasting and relaying a program which includes generating high frequency Waves, frequency modulating the generated high frequency waves with a signal, locally broadcasting a portion of the modulated Waves, frequency dividing another portion of the frequency modulated waves, frequency controlling the generated high frequency waves with one portion of the divided waves, generating ultra short waves, and frequency modulating the generated ultra short waves with another portion of said divided waves.

5. In combination, a generator of high frequency waves, a source of signaling Waves, in-

8 strumentalities for frequency modulating the waves generated by said high frequency generator, instrumentalities for frequency dividing a portion of the modulated output of said generator, apparatus utilizing said divided waves for automatically frequency controlling said generator, a circuit for utilizing another portion of the frequency modulated output of said generator for local broadcast purposes, a second frequency divider for frequency dividing still another portion of the output of said frequency modulated generator, an ultra high frequency generator, instrumentalities for utilizing the output of said second divider for frequency modulating the output of said ultra high frequency generator and means for directively radiating the output of said ultra high frequency generator.

NILS J. OMAN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,568,938 Clement Jan. 5, 1926 1,799,976 Falknor Apr. 7, 1931 1,861,462 Trouant June 7, 1932 2,028,880 Runge et al Jan. 28, 1936 2,155,821 Goldsmith Apr. 25, 1939 2,233,183 Roder Feb. 25, 1941 2,284,415 Goldstine May 26, 1942 2,298,409 Peterson Oct. 13, 1942 2,304,969 Trevor Dec. 15, 1942 2,406,932 Tuniek Sept. 3, 1946 2,407,213 Tuniek Sept. 3, 1946 2,458,124 Wilmotte Jan. 4, 1949 

